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Weather Extremes Activity

Introduction


Weather is all around us. It influences everything from what to wear to our daily activities. Without weather we wouldn’t have crops or green grass. For the most part weather is very helpful an important factor in our daily lives. Sometimes weather can be very harmful and destructive. Think about all of the damage associated with Hurricane Katrina. We are going to take a look at hurricanes as well as other weather extremes.

Task

Your job is to take on the role of a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, or thunderstorm. You will create a PowerPoint outlining your life history. Your history will include how you were created, where did you travel, interesting statistics, pictures and your demise.
Your slide show has to have a minimum of 8 slides listed below; you can branch out and include other information as well.
All presentations will begin with your birth and end with your death. The other slides will contain the following:
  • Important events that have taken place during this stage
  • Location (longitude and latitude)
  • Wind speed (in miles per hour)
  • Pictures at each stage of life, or sketches
  • Damage created
  • Human safety precautions

Process

Stage 1: Knowledge Acquisition
  1. Define your weather extreme.
  2. What conditions are needed for your weather to occur?
  3. How do they form?
  4. Where do they form?
  5. How are they measured?
  6. Why do they lose power?
  7. What precautions/safety measures should humans take?

Stage 2: Creating PowerPoint
All presentations will begin with your birth and end with your death. The other slides will contain the following:
  • Important changes that have taken place during your life
  • Your location (areas of the country)
  • Your measurement
  • Pictures showing you in action
  • Damage created (pictures)
  • Human safety precautions



Information Sources

Use only the websites listed below, DO NOT create your own searches. These websites should be your primary sources.

Tornado

Scholastic http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/tornadoes/index.htm
Weather Whiz Kids http://www.weatherwizkids.com/tornado.htm
USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/weather/tornado/wtwist0.htm
Vortex http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/noaastory/book.html
Sky Diary http://skydiary.com/kids/tornadoes.html
National Weather Service http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/severeweather/index.shtml
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/kids/tornado.htm
Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/
Powerful Storms http://www.learner.org/exhibits/weather/storms.html
Birth and Death of Tornado http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/tornado/slideshow/slideshow.html

Thunderstorm

Weather Whiz Kids http://www.weatherwizkids.com/lightning1.htm
USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/basics/thunderstorms.htm
National Weather Service http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/severeweather/index.shtml
Sky Diary http://skydiary.com/kids/lightning.html
Weather Eye http://weathereye.kgan.com/cadet/lightning/bigspark.html
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/kids/thunder.htm
Australian Severe Weather http://www.australiasevereweather.com/index.html
Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/
In the Clouds http://www.inclouds.com/index.html
Powerful Storms http://www.learner.org/exhibits/weather/storms.html

Blizzard

Weather Whiz Kids http://www.weatherwizkids.com/winter_storms.htm
Scholastic (includes Blizzard timeline) http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/winter_storms/index.htm
USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wwinter0.htm
Rocky Mountain Research Station http://www-wwrc.uwyo.edu/wrds/rmfres/index.html
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/kids/wntstrm.htm
Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/
Ice and Snow http://www.learner.org/exhibits/weather/iceandsnow.html

Hurricane

Scholastic http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/hurricanes/index.htm
Weather Whiz Kids http://www.weatherwizkids.com/hurricane1.htm
USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/hurricane-resources.htm
Sky Diary http://skydiary.com/kids/hurricanes.html
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/kids/hurr.htm
Tropical Twister http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/hurricane/damage.html
Horrific Hurricanes http://whyfiles.org/073hurricane/index.html
Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/encyclopedia/
Miami Hurricane http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/


Webquest Adapted from
http://www.pleasval.k12.ia.us/bridgeview/Teachers/krogmanbeth/weather_extremes_webquest.htm